On This Day In History | 2004

May 1, 2018

Miaritis in 2004

On this day 14 years ago, Nick Miaritis ’01 scored the game-winning goal in #5 Georgetown’s 7-6 win over #10 Rutgers.

The Hoyas led 6-3 entering the fourth quarter, but Rutgers fought back to knot the contest at 6-6 with 23 seconds remaining. Georgetown won the ensuing faceoff and Miaritis took care of the rest, firing an 18-yard bounce shot that skipped over the shoulder of the Scarlet Knight keeper and into the next with just 15 ticks left on the clock.

The victory helped the Hoyas improve to 10-2 on the season and clinched their fourth ECAC league title in the previous five years. The Hoyas went on to the NCAA tournament where they fell to eventual champion Syracuse, 7-8, in the quarterfinals. Miaritis finished his junior season with the Hoyas as the team’s fourth-highest point scorer with 26.

It seemed like a harmless shot, really. But once it found its target, it had a much bigger impact than expected.

For No. 5 Georgetown men’s lacrosse, a lucky bounce in Saturday’s road contest at No. 10 Rutgers led to a 7-6 win and the team’s fourth ECAC title in the league’s five-year history.

With less than 30 seconds remaining in the game and the Scarlet Knights fighting their way back from a 6-3 deficit at the start of the fourth quarter, the teams prepared for overtime.

Junior midfielder Nick Miaritis had taken the ball after the timeout, dodging at the top of the box to get a slightly better angle, but he was still shooting with his off hand and did not appear much of a threat.

Nevertheless, as Miaritis’ overhand shot skidded off the turf and lost velocity, it took a high arc over diving sophomore goalie Greg Havalchak and sneaked under the crossbar as the clock wound down to 0:15.

“He didn’t get off a great shot, but it was good enough,” Head Coach Dave Urick said. “When Nick took it to the goal, he took a bounce shot with his off hand, shoots it dead overhand and the goalie stepped right by it. It almost looked like it went in in slow motion.”

Miaritis was elated with the result of his efforts but deferred credit to his teammates.

“It’s definitely one of the highlights of my career here at Georgetown. A lot of credit has to be given to the defense, they take so much of the pressure off. [Senior midfielder] Walid [Hajj] is always drawing the long pole, so I always have a short stick on me, which is nice. It all just worked out for us,” he said.